gift-cards
(2)
Andrew Ekmark
Andrew Ekmark is the CEO and co-founder of Ink'd Greetings, a Phoenix-based startup that builds touchscreen kiosks printing personalized greeting cards on demand in about 30 seconds. He launched the company in 2023 with his wife Sammi after a frustrating last-minute Valentine's Day card hunt at Target, and has since grown the business to kiosks across dozens of states, raising roughly $2.5 million while taking direct aim at the legacy greeting card industry.
Jack Sardinia
Jack Sardinia is the co-founder and CEO of FavorDrop, a Buffalo-based platform for sending time-bound digital gifts and promotions. He launched it in 2021 with his father, longtime Buffalo restaurateur Tim Sardinia, around a simple idea: buy a friend a drink at their favorite bar even when you cannot be there. What began as a consumer app for sending restaurant gift cards grew into a B2B customer-engagement tool used by car dealerships, marketing agencies, and home-services companies, with more than a million FavorDrops sent and a patent on the 'bounce back' that returns unredeemed gifts to the sender.